About the Stratford School

Students working in a group

The Stratford School acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Ojibway/Chippewa peoples. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties. Our active work toward reconciliation take place across our campuses through research, teaching, learning, and community building, and is co-ordinated within our Office of Indigenous Relations.

About the Stratford School

The Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business at the University of Waterloo offers interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs that focus on the critical exploration of design and technology within a global business framework.

Our students and faculty combine business innovation with user-experience design to create innovative solutions to current challenges and anticipate future needs often in collaboration with industry partners outside the university. In particular, we strive to develop collaborative interdisciplinary perspectives to responsibly engage with the social, cultural, and environment impacts of emergent technologies.

Our Campus

The Stratford School Campus is located just steps from downtown Stratford.

Unlike traditional learning spaces, the building has an open-concept design with classrooms, media facilities, research labs and, a wealth of project rooms and collaboration spaces. The building was uniquely designed to encourage natural collaboration, for an easy flow and exchange of ideas. Our space is about flexibility and community. It's one of the reasons we designed the front of the building to be a wall of glass, so the Stratford community could see inside - all three stories.

Our Programs

The programs offered at the Stratford School the first of their kind in Canada to combine creativity, technology and business with a human-centered approach.

Professor smiling while teaching students

Teaching

At the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, our focus is digital media in teaching and research. We are leading an evolution in learning and career preparation. Students at the undergraduate and graduate levels will be immersed in a rich, technology-driven environment where theory and practice, science and commerce, creativity and innovation merge to explore new forms of digital media and technology.

As a teaching and research intensive university, the University of Waterloo and the Stratford School believe in the integration of theory and practice. Expect a rich learning experience incorporating a strong academic foundation team- and project-based learning, scholarship, research, innovation in classroom teaching, experiential learning and industry mentorship.

Researchers interacting with a digital interface

Research

Our award-winning faculty come from both academia and industry. Outside the classroom they collaborate with researchers from other areas, develop new approaches to design and technology, identify new opportunities for business, design games, interactive art, and VR/AR. They develop new ways for teams to work together, examine how new technologies impact privacy and safety, teach businesses how to thrive and much more.

Our commitment to innovation and connection to industry play a key role in ensuring you will gain the skills you need to succeed throughout your career.

Read more about Research at the Stratford School →

Experiential Education and Industry Partnerships

Our students are talented critical thinkers who ask meaningful questions and push creative boundaries to bring new and engaging solutions to your organization.

Our programs combine academics with work term experiences that enable our students to bring you diverse insights, innovative solutions, and industry-ready practices to bring new and engaging solutions to your organizations.

Undergraduate Co-op Work Terms

Our specialized co-op program for GBDA undergraduates enables students to gain valuable real-world experience in areas such as user-experience research and design, marketing, graphic design, organizational behaviour and digital media, including UX/UI, visual/product design, digital marketing, graphic design, and social marketing strategy.

Read more about Co-op in GBDA →

Course-Based Projects

Our upper level and graduate courses feature project-based learning opportunities designed in collaboration with industry partners. These full-term in-class projects take place in the fall and winter semesters and are available to both our undergraduate and graduate programs.

MDEI Milestone Projects

In place of a thesis, our MDEI graduate students will work in teams of 3-5 on complex forward-thinking project-based challenges within our partner organization. Our students combine theory with business practices to propose, develop and implement timely, innovative solutions to enable businesses thrive.

Read more about the MDEI Course Structure →

Find Out More

To learn more about Industry Partnerships at the Stratford School, please contact our Director.

Our Address

125 St. Patrick Street
Stratford, ON
N5A 0C1

Phone: 519-888-4567, ext 23000

Directions can be found here.

Enable JavaScript to view map.

DMS - Stratford School Building Hours

Effective August 21, 2023

Day Open Close
Monday 8:30 am 11:59 pm
Tuesday 8:30 am 11:59 pm
Wednesday 8:30 am 11:59 pm
Thursday 8:30 am 11:59 pm
Friday 8:30 am 11:59 pm
Saturday 11:00 am 8:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am 8:00 pm

DMS2 - Bradshaw Building Hours

Day Open Close
Monday 8:30 am 11:00 pm
Tuesday 8:30 am 11:00 pm
Wednesday 8:30 am 11:00 pm
Thursday 8:30 am 11:00 pm
Friday 8:30 am 11:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am 7:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am 7:00 pm

The Stratford School campus is closed on all statutory holidays, and university closures.